Sectional weaving loom



SBCTIONAL WEAVING L00 v Filed Deo. 13, 1946 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept.`7, 1948. v

Filed Dec. v13.1946

P. G. E. A. vANLA'l-:R 2,448,935

SECTIONAL WEAVING LOOM 6 sheets-snaai; 3

. Invlrzr P'. G. E. A'. VANLAER A Sept. 7, 1948.

' sacnonn. mv'me Loon A 6 Sheets-Shah?. -4

Filed D50. 13. 1946 fam @Im lanza fm- P. G. E. A. VANLAER Sept. 7, 1948.

' szcromu. wEAvING loon e sheds-sheet 5 r-rued nec. 1s, 1946 Fia? Patented Sept. 7, 1948 Pierre Georges Emile Auguste lnet-Rcchcville,

Vanlaer, Le Can- Alpes-Maritimes, France Application December 13,1946, serial Ne. 716,053

In France October 1 9 Claims. This invention relates to a weaving loom for the simultaneous and independentl weaving of several vertical warps disposed tangentially to a central rotor driven by a vertical shaft, the shifting of the warp yarns being operated by means of rows of cams set on the rotor, the weft yarns being conveyed, pick by pick, between the warp yarns by travellers shot through the shed by the centrifugal effect of horizontal impeller plates revolving at high speed.y

Some circular looms are known to weave one or several Warps disposed concentrically to a central driving shaft. These looms require wel t carriers large enough to contain a sufficient amount of weft yarn to ensure a fairly long nonstop operation of the loom, the size of these carriers involving a wide opening of the shed through which they are driven by complicated controls. The number of weft carriersfto be run simultaneously and consequently the number of differently coloured weft yarns available Vfor a given pattern is limited by the size of the loom,

the same pattern being repeated Aall the way around the loom. The changing of the empty` carriers or their refilling. besides being a cause of Wastage, as it is practically impossible that all the weft yarns end simultaneously, compels the operator to stop the loom while the weft yarns are being replaced.

Some straight weaving looms are known to convey the weft yarns through a horizontally disposed warp, by means of missiles shot through the shed by compressed gas. Besides the difficulty of synchronizing the shooting of the missiles with the mechanical operation of-the other parts 'of the loom, a protecting device is needed to avoid contact between the missile and the warp yarns, thus hampering the accessibility of the latter by the operator. Another device is required to bring the spent missiles back to their starting point.

On some looms, two reeds or combs are set side by side, viz: a fixed lreed to keep the warp' yarns in place and separated from oneanother, and an oscillating reed having a semi-circular motion, beating the weft thread into the fell of the cloth. In this case, transfer fingers are necessary to carry the weft thread from the lay to the angle of the shed.

The sectional loom with centrifugal weft drive to which this invention relates only requires a narrow opening of the shed, produced by a slight lateral shifting of the warp yarns, sumcient to give a clear passage to the small traveller of narrow beam. Each traveller conveying one weft thread, the number of '2` E weft threads that can be conveyed in succession and pick by pick through the shed, is only limited by the carrying capacity of Aa cone-tray feeding the weft to each section of s the loom. thus enabling the weaving of a different pattern on each of the Warps to be effected,

each pattern depending on the number of cones available and on their array on the cone-tray.

VChanging of exhausted cones on the cone-tray is done without stopping the loom and the whole tray may be easily removed and replaced by a full one owing to its detachable parts.

The travellers impeller plates being driven by the central shaft, synchronization between the centrifugal shooting of the traveller and the motion of the other partsVof the loom, driven by the same shaft, is easily attained.

The Warp yarns are protected from any contact with the traveller, although remaining easily accessible to the operator, by two parallel tension guide springs into the open coils of which they penetrate when laterally shifted to open the shed.

, The travellers crossing all the sections of .the

loom in succession have a continuous course and consequently do not have to be brought back to their starting point by any special device.

The oscillating reed or beater is placed above the xed reed instead of side by side therewith and lifts the weft thread to the fell of the cloth by means of flexible rods which it carries (as further explained) thus obviating the need of transfer fingers The vertical position of the warp yarns allows their tension to be constantly regulated by a simple device which also controls the let-off motion by positive driving of the warp beam and its reverse motion to take up any slack in the warp yarns (in the case of unpicking for instance).

The take-ln motion drums, instead of rolling up the cloth, deliver it to movable containers, disposed around the loom, over a luminous inspection board.

This is a time-saving idea as the loom section does not have to be stopped for unrolling the ycloth from the drum and the cloth can be in- 3 of pieces of cloth of different lengths to be carried out.

The sectional loom with centrifugal weft drive is operated by a small number of parts most of which have continuous motions; the few parts with reciprocating motion are driven by small and progressive cams, thus avoiding excessive vibration and noise. The working of the loom is consequently smooth and its framework is simpler, lighter and cheaper than that of the usual looms. It can be made of fabricated steel instead of castings, thus saving metal and reducing expenses of transport.

Other interesting features of the sectional weaving loom with centrifugal drive will appear in the course of its detailed description hereafter. The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sectional weaving loom with centrifugal wef t drive consisting of six weaving sections. In order that the drawing may be clearly understood, only a few parts common to all sections have been shown in each section.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of half of the same loom between the central shaft and the outer movable container.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of an'impeller casing.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of an impeller casing and of its runways.

Fig. 5 is a sectional diagram of a weaving section between frames A and B. r

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the same weaving section.

Fig. '7 is a diagram showing the operating parts of the beater reed.

FigureB is a perspective View of the impeller casing.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the electropneumatic warp-stop motion device.

The sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive shown in Fig. 1 is made of six triangular frames A, B, C, D, E, F, the interval between each two frames constituting a weaving section.

The loom may have as many frames and sections as required, depending on the number andthe width of the separate pieces of cloth that are to be simultaneously woven.

The frames are radially assembled by cross bars which carry at their intersecting point the bearings of a vertcal'shaft I driving a rotor 2.

A cog wheel 3 on shaft I drives through a chain the cog wheel 4 on the vertical shaft 5 of'frame A which, by means of a circular chain 'I3 and of cog wheels 'I4 drives the various shafts 5 corresponding to each of them (Figs. 1 and 2).

All loom sections being alike the operation of section AB. between frames A and B alone shall be described.

The warp beam 8 is carried on extensions 'I of frames A and B. It is driven by a worm 8 and a ball-jointed shaft 9 carrying a conical gear I0 which may, through a slight vertical shifting of.

4 and operating, through the shaft 9 and the worm 8, the let oil! motion of the warp beam.

Slack in the warp yarns is taken up in the reverse way, the weight of the roll I3 bringing 1t down and the arm I5 up, lifting the ball-jointed shaft 3, causing gears I0 and I2 to mesh and operating the take in motion of the warp beam.

A removable foot bridge 15 crosses the Warp yarns and enables the operator to reach any of them as well as any point of the loom section (Figs. 1 and 2).

After the tension roll I3, the warp yarns move upwards through the eyelets of heddles carried by heddle frames vof horizontally sliding harnesses I'I, I8, I9, 20, 2l and 22 (Fig. 2).

, Only six of these appear on Fig. 2 but their number depends on the pattern of the cloth to be woven. It may diier from one section to the other.

The warp yarns then enter the dents of the xed reed 23 and the exible rods 'I9 of the beater reed 24, which is set above the fixed reed and is shown in its lower position in Fig. 7.

The cloth woven by the interlacing of the warp yarns with the weft thread carried by the travel- 1er 6i) (Fig. 7) is pulled upwards by the take up roll 25 over the tension roll 25, under the pressure roll 2l and is carried by its own weight towards the movable container 29 over the guard roll 28 which prevents it from folding down into the warp beam and over the luminous inspection board 34 (Fig. 2).

The take up roll 26 is driven by vertical shaft 5 through gears 3i, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 belonging to drive head 30;, the adjustable combination of these gears giving the required number of picks per inch by regulating the motion of the take up roll in relation with the rotation speed of the rotor (Fig. 2).

The cam rows 38, 33, 4U, 4I, 42 and 43 set on collar bands around the rotor 2 opposite the harnesses I'I, I8, I9, 20, 2I and 22 operate the lateral motion of these harnesses and the consequent shifting of the warp yarns thus producing the opening of the shed, by means of sliding rods 45 equipped with friction rolles and catches which are caught by spring hooks 4I of the harnesses.

'Contact between the rotor cams and the friction rollers on the sliding rods is ensured by coil springs (Figs. l, 2, 5 and 6).

The forward motion of a clutch arm 48 unhooks the harness spring hooks 41 from the catches on the sliding rods, -thus releasing the harnesses and enabling their operation to be eifected by hand when necessary as in the case of unpicking. When the clutch arm is released, the springs on the harness hooks push them back into contact with the catches on the sliding rods (Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6).

The motion of beater reed 24 is operated through a row of cams 44 on rotor 2 driving the sliding rod 46 by means of a friction roller kept in contact with the cams by a coil spring on 'the rod. A semi-circular reciprocating motion is thus conveyed to the beater reed through crank-shafts 49, 50 and 5I, the two latter being linked by the connecting rod 8|. 'Ihe beater reed is brought back to its lower position by a spring 80, an adjustable stop regulating this position (Figs. 1, 2 and 1).`

The crank-shaft 49 may be slid out of reach from the connecting rod 45 by the lower part of clutch arm 48 thus stopping the beaters motion (Figs. 2 and 7) The weft yarn wound in cones is carried by enable the ,adjustment oil its speed of rotation to be effected according to the number of cones available on thetray. This tray is built in two detachable parts so that it may be easily removed from the frame (Figs. 1, 2, 5-and 6).

The eyelet l, carried by Ithe cone-tray on a spring arm, holds the loose end of a weft thread,

fed from one of the cones on cone-tray B2, opposite the exit of the impeller casing I9 where it is caught in the slot 6| of the exit runway 62 (Fig.`

4). The loose end of the weft thread has been Previously dipped in a trough M containing melted wax of any other suitable thermoplastic or soluble quick-coagulating material (Figs. 2, 5

The traveller Ill'on the impeller'plate 55 driven by shaft I through pulleys I6 and 51 and the shaft 58, gathers speed in the impeller casing 59 until the arm 63 of the beater reed 2l, on its way down..

lowers the trap doo'i` 61 in the impeller casing by means of a trigger Il (Figs. 2, 3 and 4) The pulley 18 on shaft il drives the impeller plates of the other sections through a circular belt.

The' centrifugal eifect `produced by the high speed of rotation of the impeller plate drives the liberated traveller on to the exist runway 624 Aand over slot 6I where the weft thread caught in the slot slips into a notch on the travellers nose where it is held fast by the coagulated material which it has previously gathered. This notch. is gauged according to the diameter of the weftl 'yarn used (Figs. 4 and 7). From then on, the traveller pulls along .the weft thread which unwinds from the cone, the spring arm of the eyelet 53 being jerked upwards and compensating for part of the strain applied to the thread.

'I'he traveller coming out of exit runway l2 reaches the surface of the xed reed 23 across before it'ls brought again into slot Il. f

In the meantime, the rotation of the cone-tray has brought another weft yarn, fed by the next cone through the next eyelet, into slot 6|.

This yarn is ready to be caught-by -the'notch in the nose of the next traveller which. coming from the-preceding impeller'plate l! through 10pm section FA and entrance runway I8 of said section is gathering speed on the impeller plate 55 pending the opening of the trap door Il which will enable the insertion of the next .pick to be effected as described hereabove.

'I'he flexible prong 'I l in the middle of entrance runway II cleans the traveller notch of remants of coagulated material and thread (Figs. 4, 5 and6-). .f .A

Should the weft 'thread break or the traveller fail Ato catch it, no upward Jerk would be applied to the spring arm supportingthe eyelet 53 which would consequently remain in position, the rotation of the cone-tray bringing it into contact with the rocker arm Il carrying a mercury level electric vswitch which, by rocking, would switch v across section AB but without going through the shed (Figs. 4, 5 and 6). 'I'he same device unclutches, through approppriate controls, the take up roll 2 8 and the contray 52 by compelling their driving gears to slide which two parallel coil tension springs 65 are stretched for the purpose of guiding the course of the traveller through the loom section (Figs. 4, 6 and 7).

The vertical warp yarns have been divided by the lateral motion of the harnesses and have penetrated the open coils of the tension guide springs on'each side of the track of the traveller and are thus protected from any contact with it. The flexible rods 19 of the lowered beater reed are concealed between and slightly below thedents of the xed reed and laterally between the coils of the tension guide springs, thus ensuring a clear run to the traveller until it reaches rthe entrance runway 06 of the following impeller` casing 59 whichv takes it to the impeller plate 55 (Figs. 5, 6 and 7). f

The weft thread which has been laid by the traveller on the surface of the ilxed reed 23 between the parted warp yarns, is picked up by flexible rods 'i9 of the beater reed 24 on their way up. When the nonflexible dents of the on their shafts and it can also be made talgm'fe the clutch arm 4I thus throwing the harnesses and beater out of action.

Weaving on loom section AB "is consequently stoppedbut thefother loom sections may keep on working, being provided with travellers usine thef'subsidiary track 1i acrossJoom section AB (Fig. 6)

A break in any warp yarn achieves the same result through an electro-pneumatic warp stop motion which may either stop the weaving on the loom section within which a break has occurred or warn the operator by lighting an alarm bulb beater reed penetrate inte the shed; the weft thread lifted up by the'ilexible rods and laterally held by the closing warp yarns, slides on to the non flexible dents of the beater which press it into the top angle of the shed and the fell of the cloth (Fig. 7).

Upwardmotionof `the beater reed releases trigger El from arm 6l and a spring lifts and closes the trap door Il of the impeller casing.

A knife 80 (Fig. 8) carried on both ends of the beater reed severs both trailing ends of their!-l serted pick.

.This automaticwarp stop motion consists of a suction head 'Il slidingto and fro on a double thread shaft across the width of the warp yarns below the eases and between' two wires stretched o rocker arms 'l1 carrying mercury level switches l2.

'I'he loose end ofany broken warp yarn is sucked in by the suction head and reacts on' the wire corresponding Vto its position in the warp,

compelling' the arm to rock and switching on through the memory level switch. either the unclutching electro-magnet or thev alarm bulb, or both (mm2).

The ventilator providing the`suction1-maybe .1

driven by the loom or by a separate motor. This automatic electro-pneumatic stop motion, designed furthe loom described and claimed, may also be iitted'to any other weaving loom. f

-Besides doingawaywlth drop wiresusedin warp motions of conventional types. it Yalso cleans the warpyarnsoftheirdust and. by making them vlbrateprevents them from adhering to one another. By fitting the suction head with an extension. it may also be used for clearing the various parts of the loom from dust and lint.

Selvages are made by any known device such as the use of heddle reeds carried on some of the harnesses or by inserting the floating ends of the s (c) That each pleit being fed from a dierent cone, faults in the yam are compensated for in the cloth;

(d) That unpicking is easy. the unclutched harnesses sliding' freely by hand, the take=up roll once unclutched letting on the faulty cloth and the warp beam automatically taking up any consequent slackness of the warp yarns;

(e) That only the shedding motion remains the same for all loom sections as it depends on the combination of the cam row carried by the rotor (Fig. 2). Changing the shedding motion is obtained by sliding the collar bands on which the cams are set around the rotor. Different patterns may also be obtained with the same shedding motion by using a different combination of harnesses on each section:

(l) That the described sectional loom takes up no more door space than the number of conventional looms giving the same output.

I claim:

1. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive comprising a central rotor. a number of Avertical warps, disposed tangentially to said rotor, rows of cams adjustably mounted on said rotor and adapted to shift the warp` yarns and form the shed successively in each section; a horizontal impeller plate revolving at high speed for each section, travellers shot through the shed by a centrifugal effect produced by said impeller plates, means for guiding each traveller of one impeller plate to the impeller plate of the following section through the shed and means whereby the said travellers draw the weft yarns, pick by pick, between the warp yarns.

2. A sectional weaving loom according to claim 1 in which the centrifugal weit drive consists' of impeller plates revolving at high speed in casings from which protrude several runways, a weft yarn conveyor or traveller which is shot'through one of the runways by the centrifugal eect ofL the impeller plates, means for feedingthe weft thread pick by pick to the traveller from cones carried by a revolving cone-tray and for insuring .that the weft thread is made fast to the nose of the traveller, means for controlling the timing of the travellers egress from 'the impeller casing through a trap door and^for selecting the desirable runway through which it should travel.

3. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive according to claim `1 with means for guiding the weft conveyor or traveller between two parallel tension coil springs stretched across the surface of a horizontal fixed reed or comb, the`vertical warp yarns, when laterally 'shifted to produce the shed, penetrating into the open coils of the guide springs which protect them from coming into contact with. the traveller.

4. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive, according to claim 1 which comprises a combination of two horizontal reeds or combs. a fixed reed and an oscillating` beater reed with a semi-circular motion, the beater reed being set above the fixed reed in such a way that when it reaches its lower position. flexible rods' carried by the dents of the beater reed penetrate the dents of the fixed reed, pick up the weft thread lying on the latter and lift it on their way up so that it slides back on to the beater reed dents which press it into the top angle of the shed.

5. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive according to claim 1 in which a clutch arm which by disengaging spring hooks carried by the harnesses from catches on driving sliding rods. releases the harnesses and enables them tb be operated by hand.

6. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive according to claim 1 comprising a device for controlling the tension ofthe warp yarns by means of a gravity tension roll on rocker arms counterbalanced by levers. the former being vertically shifted by any tension variation of the warp yarns and accordingly moving a balljointed shaft carrying on its free end a conical gear which is thus made to engage either of two conical gears Opposed on a vertical driving shaft, the ball jointed shaft being connected to a worm which operates the let ofi or the take up motion of the warp beam depending on which ofthe gears are engaged.

7. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive according to claim 1 wherein a device delivers the cloth to movable containers over a luminous inspection board thus saving time for stopping, unrolling and restarting, and allowing for inspection of the cloth as it is delivered as well as for marking of faulty parts.

`8. A sectional weaving loom'with centrifugal weft drive according to claim 1 in which provision is made of an electropneumatic warp stop motion consisting of a suction head sliding reciprocally across the width of the warp yarns between two wires stretched on rocker arms provided with mercury level switches, the sucking in of the loose end of any broken Warp yarn reacting on the wires and rocking the switches operating an electro-magnet for the lighting of an alarm bulb.

9. A sectional weaving loom with centrifugal weft drive according to claim 1 in which provision is made of an electric weft stop motion consisting oi a rocker arm with a mercury level switch which is rocked by the impact of an eyelet holder carried on a rotating cone-tray when this eyclet is not jerked out of position by the pull exerted on the weft yarn running through it.

PIERRE GEORGES EMILE AUGUSTE .VANLAER 

